Project Details
Projekt
Multiple bonds at the experimental border: Spectroscopic characterization of high bond orders in molecular d- and f-element components
Subject Area
Physical Chemistry of Molecules, Liquids and Interfaces, Biophysical Chemistry
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 461997427
Chemical bonds are at the heart of chemistry. Nevertheless, the limits of experimental investigations are not nearly exhausted for representatives of the highest bond order, the sextuple bond. Consequently, the bonds between actinides have not been subject to almost any experimental characterization to date. This gap should be closed by measuring actinide molecules, that have only been investigated sparsely or even not at all, in an effort to significantly expand the limits of the experimental knowledge. This goal can be achieved by studying transition metal dimers in the gas phase, including uranium as a representative of the actinides. Its gas phase dimer in fact has never been subjected to a precise measurement. The method of choice for such precision measurements is high-resolution Fourier-transform microwave spectroscopy at adiabatically cooled molecular jets in combination with LASER vaporization technology. The highly sensitive measurement of different isotopologs with simultaneous decoding of spectral fine and hyperfine structure allows a highly precise elucidation beyond the Born-Oppenheimer approximation of the electronic ground state in view of its geometrical and electronic structure, which is predicted to be of unprecedented complexity. Furthermore, the application of the LASER vaporization technique to coordination compounds should make their structure - going this route for the first time - accessible in a new way.
DFG Programme
Research Grants
Major Instrumentation
Pikosekunden-Laser
Instrumentation Group
5700 Festkörper-Laser
